Re:sorry for jetting in but 2 other people have .....

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Posted by mchambers on September 02, 2002 at 09:48:21:

In Reply to: Re:In response to your question.. posted by Robert Haase on September 02, 2002 at 02:03:34:

released and or animals have escaped that i have heard of. One a very use to get-drunk-on-road californian that came up with several alterna with cactus spines embebed in animal ( know who this is ? ) that reportedly released a nelsoni and another resident of Lajitas/Terlingua Ranch that had several escapes ( reportedly ) through out his stay and working in the area. All in the 80ties. The last person had numerous reptiles held over at someplace in redford at one time and there were escapes reportedly happening there at this residents house. I 'm not namimg names but anybody that was a down there in those days can surely figure out who or whom these people were.

Chambo

:No, I am not the person your refer to. Actually, I'm a biologist. I work with endangered/threatened herps in California. I certainly do not advocate the release of captive animals into the wild as a general practice.

:The person who had the Mexican kingsnakes that escaped was a guy by the name of Ricky Green. He used to live at Villa de la Mina and was definately a "catcher" not a "keeper". Many captive snakes, both native and exotic, escaped during his time there. I know because I was present at the time and was angry that exotic snakes from such a similar habitat to the south had, in fact, escaped into the local population. The escaped exotics had been aquired by Ricky from me.

:Additionally, a man by the name of Bob Mackin also stayed each summer at the same place. He collected all manner of snakes and many of those also escaped, including milksnakes, ratsnakes, and kingsnakes from other areas of the Big Bend and even other states. A few were recaptured, but most were never seen again. Bob Mackin purportedly found the first so-called "milksicana" kingsnake somewhere on "Peppers Hill". I believe I still have a photo print of it. I remember finding a Colorado Desert sidewinder (C cerastes laterorepens) on Hwy 170. I later found out several of these had been released by a guy named Bob Applegate as a joke on other herpers. What these people didn't realize was that many of these species could and did survive and persist for some time. The long term effects of such introductions, either by accident or design, often do not show up for long periods of time.

:You may have discovered the results of such careless and inept follies from the past..or a natural hybrid. If seems to me that if natural hybridization were taking place in such homogeneous habitat that there would be a broader distribution of such hybrids than just around Lajitas, TX. Something to consider...I would be suspect of any such kingsnake from that area considering the recent history of sister taxa introductions.

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